Rains pause for Sauk Rapids parade

Dancers from Ms. Melinda’s Dance Studio perform Friday during the Rapids River Days parade in Sauk Rapids. After getting rained out of the Sartell parade, which was canceled, the dance studio staff rushed to enter the Sauk Rapids parade.(Photo: Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)Buy Photo

SAUK RAPIDS – The wet summer paused long enough Friday for onlookers to enjoy the Rapids River Days parade — better luck than Sartell's parade earlier this month, and better than the same parade a year earlier, when the Sauk Rapids parade was canceled because of a windstorm.

Good weather was exactly what about 40 dancers from Ms. Melinda's Dance Studio were hoping for. After getting rained out of the Sartell parade, dance studio staff rushed to enter the Sauk Rapids parade.

"They were so anxious to get in," said Marla Elness, Sauk Rapids' festival coordinator. "They're pulling up the end with Collins Brothers Towing."

"We're very fortunate Sauk Rapids said yes," said owner Melinda Tamm. "We had a parent do a whole brand new float. ... We really need to show it."

The theme of the float is "We Are Stars."

"They're stars in the community with their volunteerism and on the dance floor," she said.

Tamm said if the Sauk Rapids parade had been canceled, she would be sure the studio was doomed since its last two parade appearances were canceled because of weather, leaving dancers disappointed.

"They always look forward to it," she said. "Every little girl gets to be a princess ... performing in front of people."

"It gives the kids an idea of performance, that you're not just performing to compete. You perform more just for the joy of it. The more they can be in front of people, the more their self-confidence improves," she said.

And for the older kids who help with the younger ones, it helps them build leadership skills.

"It's a good time for the families," she said.

Collins Brothers Towing of St. Cloud joined the dancers at the end of the parade. Owner James Trantina said the company often ends up at the end of parades because of the number of big trucks they bring.

"We always say, they save the best for last. The police and fire start it — and we work hand in hand with them — we end it," Trantina said.

Staff participate in nine parades a year around Central Minnesota, which means they rarely have a summer weekend without a parade.

"We like giving back to the kids, letting them have their fun and getting the word out that we're in town, that people have options," he said.

Employees and their families participate, cleaning up the trucks and getting them ready for the parade.

"Everyone takes pride in the equipment ... A lot of them come in on their own time," he said.

Included this year is the second biggest rotator rig in Minnesota, which can rotate 360 degrees and lift 75 tons. It's used for semi rollovers so tow trucks don't block two lanes of freeway traffic.

Also near the end of the parade, onlookers saw the Park Center Marching Band, which requests to be the last band every year.

"Park Center loves to be last," Elness said.

Director Wade Schroeder said the band likes to use the time before the parade and during the beginning of the parade to practice.

"We like to use the time ... to ramp up to the end of the parade, so we can really perform the best by the time the parade gets going," Schroeder said.

"We enjoy the Sauk Rapids parade a lot," he said. "We make a point to go there every year."

This year, the band is performing a sideshow spectacle show.

"It's nice to be one of the punctuation points on the parade," he said.

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Sauk Rapids firefighter Jason Adamski gives out a handful of andy to he children along the parade route of the Rapids River Days parade through Sauk Rapids Friday. Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com

Being the second to the last unit in the Rapids River Days parade gave dancers from Ms. Melindaâ??s Dance Studio plenty of time for a group photo before the start of the parade. Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com